


Power Surge

by VixtheEvil



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: First fanfic for Undertale, Forgive my lack of puns, I'm bad in making them, Other, Reader is gender neutral
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-02 02:38:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5230703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VixtheEvil/pseuds/VixtheEvil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Papyrus. Everyone you know loves Papyrus... to an extent for some but still most monsters enjoy him around. He was just a bundle of energy and joy... pure of innocence; he finds everything to be new and fascinating to him. You've heard the stories from Undyne, Sans and Frisk, even though the flamboyant skeleton trained to fight... he would never strike at anyone on purpose. </p><p>That's why everyone was caught off guard when Papyrus finally loses control...</p><p>(Update: Due to a situation, which parents prevented me from doing a proper backup, my computer is now gone through a factory reset. I still have the story saved, its just that's gonna be on the back burner until I get my comp up to speed. Thanks Mom... for not listening to me to leave the comp alone when I'm scanning the BIOS!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Papyrus?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gonna say this now... I'm not good with puns, even bad ones. So I apologize if Sans... behavior is off. I tried but still hope you enjoy it. I've been out of practice for a while. And this is my first fanfic for Undertale.
> 
> I've seen a lot of fics about Sans losing control of his magic. But I wanted to write one in which Papyrus is the one that loses control. Magic buildup sucks. XD
> 
> If y'all want another chapter, let me know. (if so then most likely it'll only be 2 or 3 chapters long give or take I don't think there's anything else to add.)
> 
> -Updated-  
> I fixed some errors (I stood up last night writing this so yeah sorry) and added some new stuff in there, kinda to brush it up a bit more. But if there's any more errors, let me know, unless its punctuation... that's my weakest point in writing. ^^;
> 
> Also my tumblr is http://vixthefantheorist.tumblr.com/ its not much at the moment, but just making it clear about the similiaries whenever I post a story or something

You don't know how it happened. 

You don't why it happened. (until explained later)

But it happened.

All of you were just having a great time earlier, Frisk was celebrating her thirteenth birthday and had invited her closest friends to the forest near Mt. Ebott. Monster Kid was there, happily playing volleyball with Undyne and Alphys, even Asgore joined in the game. Napstablook was there ghosting the music in place of Mettaton, who was displeased in missing out. Tables filled with food and gifts (a large pile of it was from the robot star) were set up nicely in the middle of the clearing and watched over by Toriel. Sans and Frisk were firing jokes at each other, you couldn't help but laugh as Toriel join in with bad puns of her own. Papyrus, by some miracle of God, had managed to make spaghetti from the grill. No one questioned how he managed to do it.

All in all it was a perfect day and soon to be night. 

At least it was until Papyrus began to wilt throughout the party. At first it was just him stopping what he was doing and rubbing his right temple, like he had a headache. Sans was concerned of course and asked he was okay, but reassured that he was fine just felt... off. The shorter skeleton nodded but glanced at Undyne, who was watching in worry along with Alphys. After a moment, the headache faded and Papyrus was back to his energetic self; so everyone resumed the party though the three kept an eye on him. 

He remained his bouncy self for another hour and eventually the scare faded away for fun. 

~~~~

“okay, okay...” Sans grinned at Frisk, “how did the pastry chef hurt himself getting out of his chair?” 

“How?” They asked, trying their best to keep from smiling but failing. Toriel was hovering nearby as you shake your head, failing as well to keep from grinning. 

“he _rose_ too quickly.”

Mother and child burst out laughing, leaning into each other for support, you had the decency to clap a hand over your eyes as you giggled. “Oh god, that was totally bad.”

He shrugged, “i don't know what you mean, i thought it was _humerus._ ”

“No, stop...” 

“wow, talk about deja _moo_ , i knew i heard about this _bull_ before.” 

Toriel and Frisk were both howling by now, crying from laughter. You were crouching, feeling tears pricking your eyes as your sides heaved and started to ache. Sans was chuckling in amusement in making his friends laugh. You clamped your mouth shut, turning your giggles into a strange hissing sound. You couldn't help it and slapped weakly at his legs to get him to stop as he continued to pop out bad jokes and puns one after another.

“what do you call a pile of cats?”

“What?” It was Toriel, she managed to stop long enough to ask before giggling again. 

“a _meowtain._ ”

You give him a half-hearted glare as a snort escapes you. He merely grins and was about to say another when it happened...

A clattering of pots and a strangled cry had everyone stop exactly what they were doing and whipped around to eye the grill area. The grill had toppled over, taking the pots of spaghetti and sauce with it and spilling the contents all over the grass. Papyrus stood next to it, his hands clamped tightly over his right eye. He was trembling and mumbling to himself, slightly bent over as if to contain what was happening.

In the time you spend to blink, Sans went from standing near you to being at his brother's side, touching his arm to get his attention. They spoke to each other quietly, and if you didn't think it was physically possible, you saw Sans' face pale. You were quick to get to them as well, hoping to be of some help. Apparently, everyone else thought the same and came crowding in to see what was going on. You glance at Undyne as she pushed her way through to the front and watched as she studied what was going on with a critical eye before inhaling sharply. 

What? What was wrong?

Your answer came from Papyrus, turning to look at the rest of the group, his smile was strained, forming a grimace as he kept one hand pressed to his eye socket. And you could see the thin wisp of an orange flame leaking from the cracks where the fabric of his glove didn't press hard enough. He had a guilty look on his face, trying to form words. Sans didn't leave his side, nor removed his hand from his brother's are but he was shaking his head in denial. 

The lanky skeleton looked at Undyne, “It... Its happening...”

Right away you notice that he wasn't being his flamboyant self, shouting or gesturing wildly. This was serious. Even Undyne became serious though her expression showed her fear.

“You're sure?” the fish warrior asked, wincing as Papyrus nodded. “I mean are you absolutely sure? I mean in all the years we were trapped-”

_**“Yes.”** _

Everyone jerked back in surprise at the sharp and almost commanding tone he gave when he answered, his glare almost withering. It was... just so out of character for him, more so at the fact his voice had deepened. Even Frisk flinched at the tone. The wisp flared in response and he grunted, hunching his shoulders as the pain sharpened. 

“What's going on? What's wrong with Papyrus?” you asked, looking around at all the grim faces. They collectively flinched at remembering you were there. Ah, that was right... they never told you about this... problem before. But no one spoke up, too worried about what was going on that rather given an answer. It was Papyrus that gave it to you, his lone pinprick eye looking toward you.

_**“I'm... I'm losing control of my magic...”** _

“Losing control? How? What should we-?” You don't get much further than that as everyone jumped in shock when the wisp flared and burst into a larger flame, far large than Papyrus could keep in check and he screamed, collapsing to his knees and struggled to keep his wild magic under control. The crowd backed away, feeling the intensity of the magic that poured out of him. Even Sans was beaten back by it, which you knew ate at him since he was so desperate to stay with his brother.

Papyrus turned toward his friends and family, the bright orange ring staring back at them. He didn't want to hurt them. He knew, if they stayed any longer they would get hurt and it would be his fault. He gave them a pleading look, still struggling to delay his loss of control. _**“Run. Please.”**_

“Paps, I'm staying.” 

It was Sans, refusing to budge as the others heeded the tall skeleton's plea and fled for safety. Frisk twitched, torn in what to do but was dragged away by Toriel, but they were reaching out, calling out to him in sympathy; even going as far as to pull back but failed against their mother's strength. Monster Kid whimpered, looking at his hero with sorrow before finally giving in and fleeing, amazingly without tripping over his own feet for once. You stayed and Undyne stayed as well because of it. 

Papyrus stayed on his knees, glaring at the three of you that refuse to leave. He panted, the ground quaking a little in response of his magic level. _**“What do you think you're doing?”**_ he hissed, giving you a chill that ran down your spine with that flaming eye staring you down, _**“I said for you to run!”**_

“Well tough shit about that, I'm staying.” Sans snapped back, his left eye flaring blue as he glared at his brother; seemingly trying to will Papyrus into accepting his presence. It came down to a quick clash of wills. You were crying as the two bickered, the whole situation was scaring you but you didn't know what to do. What could you even do? Papyrus was obvious in a huge amount of pain, you could feel and obviously see his magic growing more wild and erratic despite his best efforts to contain it as best as possible for your escape. Undyne was trembling and so was Sans but neither moved. They couldn't, _didn't_ want to.

There wasn't anything you could do... except let it run its course... as painful as it was.

 **“Damnit, _Sans!”_** Another first. Papyrus had never once swore in anyone's presence for any reason. Not even when extremely angry and upset; and those were very rare times. The shock of the notion clearly clued you in on just how desperate he was getting to get the three of you moving. Tendrils of magic lashed the air, clawing at it. Several tore trees away, one knocked the tables over and another smashed the DJ stage. Undyne saw fit to grab you and leapt back further from danger but still within sight of him. The earth continued to rumble, steadily getting worse; almost groaning in pain itself. _**“Don't argue with me! Just GO!”**_

The stockier of the brothers faltered a little when his brother leveled the glare on him solely. The blue flame flickered against the orange, signaling that Sans' resolve was crumbling as the heat of Papyrus' magic grew. “P-Papyrus...”

 _ **“I said GO!”**_ Papyrus roared at him, forcing Sans to step back in shock. His guard dropped in his desperation to get his brother to flee. The magic saw its chance and seized it; two of the tendrils pulled back from their lashing and coiled around him, engulfing him in their fire. More poured out of his eye to tear up the terrain; several trees that were untouched before burst into fire from the heat. 

He shrieked.

You screamed in fear for him, rushing forward in attempt to save him but Undyne held you back. You wailed, kicking the air as you tried to struggle free from her grasp. “ _Papyrus!!_ Hold on!” You cried out, unsure if the words were lost against his own screams. You flail and struggle but the fish warrior kept a tight grip. 

“Don't be stupid!” she yelled back, tightening her hold on you against your thrashing. She was starting to feel the effects of the rising heat. “His magic will murder you!”

“But we have to help him! He's in pain!”

“I KNOW! But we _can't!_ ” You suddenly realize that Undyne's body was shaking against your own, her face was partly hidden by your hair. As close as you were to her, you swore you heard her choke back a sob. Obviously, she wanted to help him as much as you did, to run into him and just embrace him and tell him it was going to be alright... but she knew... knew that it was practically suicide at this point. And had there been a way to stop it all... it would've been done by now. But there wasn't. The thought made you wail louder in despair. She whispered against the back of your head. "We... We just... _can't_ help him now..."

Unable to stand the intensity of magic any further, Sans blinked to your location, wincing in pain from the slight burns he suffered as he was forced to flee from his brother's side. You watched his body tremble, saw his jacket rise and fall as he heaved in air but you weren't sure if it was exertion or keeping himself from crying. That thought was abandoned in favor of you hearing him suck in his breath sharply.

Sans suddenly went stiff, his arm snapping up in protection as he trained his gaze toward his brother's direction. “We have to go. Any longer and we'll burn alive from this.” he told you, the words painful to say for him, but the tone was a warning. Undyne's grip tightened on you. You stop your own wailing long enough to realize that Papyrus' shrieks had stopped and the only noise you could hear was the roaring wind that rushed around the area, caused by the magic's out of control nature. 

Why was he so silent? Your breathe hitched. He didn't die already did he? No... if he had, Sans would be bursting into tears and the flailing magic would've evaporated by now. But you could still hear the magic going berserk around you, shrieking in outrage. Confused, you peer over the skeleton and freeze in horror. 

Papyrus was staring at you.

Both eyes were two orange flames and they focused on the three of you intently. His gaze swept over each one, studying... calculating.... Was he..? His expression was still that of pain, the taller skeleton quivered on his knees, from still trying to delay magic's eagerness to escape. But his eyes were not his own any more, the magic taking further control of him and they were marking you three...

You felt a surge a terror going through you.

Sans' hands grasped both you and Undyne as Papyrus struggled again, shaking his head before opening his eyes again, for a flicker of a moment his eyes returned to their normal pinpricks of light. 

_“Please... Run...”_ He cried out, tears streaming down his face. He looked so tired, you realize he couldn't stall it any further and let his arms drop to his sides as his eyes flickered again; the orange ring flashing back into place in his right eye socket. The ground quaked harder in response, a crack forming as if divide him from everyone, protecting you. Sans twitched, his grip on both you and Undyne turned vicelike. The magic broke free, roaring in triumph as it surged outward. _**“NOW!”**_

An orange wall of light rushed forward and Sans' left eye flashed blue, letting his own magic sweep over his passengers. You both grimace, closing your eyes at the odd sensation as the stocky skeleton pulled you through his warp to escape the magic that threatened to devour you. 

…

You reappear next to everyone else, but they don't take notice. Instead their gaze were fixed on the tower of orange light that spear the night sky. And above that, the howling scream that was no doubt Papyrus being back in torment. It strangely quiet, alien even save for the agonized howl echoing around you. Undyne placed you back on your feet as she and Sans too watched the light. The shorter brother, trembling in both rage and sorrow, hands flexing with helpless energy. It was torture for him too, hearing his only family wail and cry in anguish and can do absolutely nothing to help him. A sheen of tears formed in your eyes as you stared out at the light, listening to the screaming and wondering exactly how none of you saw this coming. He didn't... hide it from all of you, did he? No... that wasn't his style... he was too open and honest to hide something that terrifying from everyone. So then why? As you try to recall the events to find out what was going on, something flickered through the light. It was a small movement, mostly dismissed but Undyne's trained eye caught it.

“Shit! EVERYONE **MOVE!** ” she ordered sharply, something they didn't that was heading their way. The yell startled the group, looking toward her in surprise and confusion. Her gaze flicked to them in annoyance and threw her arm to the side, "Don't just stand there, gawking at me!" She hissed as she gestured to the sky. "Something's coming, so get those asses in gear and run!"

A streak of orange was moving away from the tower and hurtling in your direction. The majority of the group didn't know what it was and fled further away, screaming in terror; you notice that once again Frisk resisted, having an inkling that they probably knew what it was. Again, Frisk lost in the battle of strength and was yanked away. Toriel knew Frisk could take care of themselves in battle (they were hard to hit) but maternal instincts left her no room to think and merely dragged her child with her for safety. Later Frisk wouldn't think ill of their mother but Toriel will apologize all the same. But they weren't the only ones that probably knew what that thing was. Apparently Sans and Undyne knew it too as they shifted into a more defensive stance. You would've taken off as well but... something told you that wouldn't have worked. Instead you stayed with the two monsters, waiting as the star-like streak smashed into the earth in front of you.

Both battle trained monsters narrowed their eyes, Sans' eye flashing blue in preparation and Undyne summoned one of her spears in her hands. Curiously, you peered between them and toward the smog of dirt that drifted in the air. What was it that fell? You felt a presence then and felt an odd chill settle over your soul.

 _ **“I see...”**_ A voice drifted from the clouds of dirt. It was deep and smooth yet the tone was stonic, as if it was used to being in command.

You freeze. Was that? 

Something moved in the smog, a glowing eye pierced the thinning dirt screen.

_**“You didn't run. Good.”** _

A wind blew the dirt smokescreen away and the three of you gasp in shock. 

In front of you stood Papyrus... but so much more terrifying. Instead of an over-exaggerated flamboyant pose, he stood dignified. His voice, whereas Papyrus' was normally loud and expressive. This one was much more quiet but still held a power of its own. You felt like if it suited him, his voice while barely rising in volume would still sting like whip. He was dressed in heavy looking dark gray armor. Spiked shoulder guards and chest plate weighed over his torso; clawed gauntlets covered his hands in place of his normal snow mitts; while armored leggings and boots protected his legs. In his hands, he held a pair large sharp looking bone swords, sharp teeth lined the back of the blades; clearly designed to rip right through defenses. A spiked horned helmet adorned his head, covering most of it save his face, with his back to the fading light, covered it in shadows. The only thing that marked him as Papyrus was the skeleton's prized red scarf that was still wrapped around the skeletal knight's neck. 

The look of his right eye stopped all three of you dead in your tracks. It was cold, calculating and to your horror... malicious. And it showed no hint of recognition for either of you.

You shivered as he continued to burn that bright orange eye at you.

You feel like you're going to have a _**bad**_ time...


	2. Soul Reaper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I rewrote this like... three times already, even went as far as to consider stopping it because I just didn't know how to make this flow to what I see in my head. Compared to the other chapter, I kinda feel this one is weak in someway. If it is, then I apologize. I'll figure something out to rewrite better if I have to. Hell I'll take a bit of suggestions to maybe snap it back to being decent. ^^;
> 
> Sorry if the chapter was short.
> 
> Enjoy.

If Undyne hadn't known Papyrus nearly all her life, knew of his soft nature and pure of heart... she would've found this form more pleasing. Her heart lurched in realization as she stared at that stoic and darker version of the happy-go-lucky skeleton. Was... was this her fault? Was this what she wanted him to be so many years ago? Would this have been him if he didn't have his gentle soul? To be honest with herself... yes. She grew up knowing they needed seven human souls to break the barrier and she searched far and wide for the best monsters to be within the Royal Guard; not only to protect their kind but for the oncoming war that was sure to follow had they followed through with the plan. A knight like him... within the Guard would've surely guaranteed their freedom and become a hero among them. 

And she would've trained him to be deadly against humans. And she would've been proud to have him as her Lieutenant... hell he probably would've gone far beyond her and become the Captain of the Royal Guard but she would still be happy.

The thought made her sick and it terrified her. 

No one moved, no one dared to breathe louder than a whisper. They simply stood staring at each other.

 _ **“Captain Undyne.”**_ Hearing her name like that had her going still in fear as the warrior's eye shifted just barely to stare at her. Undyne forced herself to acknowledge his greet, somehow her skin crawled under his gaze and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. His eye shifted toward his shorter brother. _**“Sans.”**_ Uttering his name in that voice had the same effect on Sans, who twitched when the gaze fell on him. He didn't dare to gulp but managed a slight nod in acknowledgment as well. Undyne cast a quick glance at Sans, who spared her a look, a mix between confusion, terror and uncertainty. Even he didn't know what Papyrus was up to. _**“It seems congratulations are in order...”**_

That got your attention, you snapped out of your terrified trance to see that the knight had yet to move. You watched as the fish warrior cocked her head in confusion at the words, her stance faltered a little having been caught off guard. “Uh... 'congratulations'?” she repeated numbly, “F-for what?”

Papyrus ignored their confusion and you felt ice creeping along your veins as his fierce gaze finally settles upon you. You didn't even want to breathe in that moment, afraid that if you moved just the slightest it would set him off. And deep inside of you, you felt that assumption was right. 

_**“You captured a human,”**_ All three of you once again went utterly still at the same time, shocked at the announcement. _**“but there seems to be a problem.”**_ What the hell did he mean by that? The three of you blinked and Papyrus vanished from in front of you. Sans and Undyne jolted with a start, looking around wildly, shocked at his speed. Or was it even speed? Did he have the same warping power Sans had? She glanced at him again and he shook his head, but she couldn't tell if that meant, no he didn't have the same power or did he just not know?

“Where the hell did he go?” Undyne hissed, and she looked around carefully.

“I don't know,” Sans replied, “But don't let him near-”

You suddenly felt an ominous existence behind you, seconds before a near crushing grip grabbed the back of your head. You let out a frightened and strangled cry as you're lifted from ground with ease. You cry out again, hands flying up to pry the clawed fingers that dug a little into your scalp and legs kicking the air feebly in hopes of breaking away. “Let go of me!”

Both Undyne and Sans whip around in horror, seeing Papyrus had already gotten his hands on you. His face was set in a scowl and sent the two monsters a withering glare. _**“The human still has their soul.”**_ Your two friends jerked in shock, you couldn't see what it was and that alone made you all the more frantic to escape the knight's grasp. But even that was abandoned in favor of keeping absolutely still. You whimper, shaking slightly and gaze at your friends with desperation in your eyes. 

The tip of a blade was resting against your back, right where your heart should be. Was he going to kill you?

_**“But I'll correct that mistake.”** _

You felt the familiar heat of Papyrus' magic pressing against your flesh. Felt it seep into your body. Then felt its focused burn in one location in your chest, you had no idea what was going on but it hurt so much. 

“Please... Papyrus... I don't want to die...”

You felt a tug... well honestly, it felt more like a rip, like someone was reaching inside of you and ripping out something that you needed to live. 

Sans roared in anguish.

Undyne screamed in fury.

You join her, screaming in agony for a few seconds before deathly quiet. You stare silently, barely aware that your friends continue to scream in horror. It... it looks so pretty... a healthy shade of forest green. You smile faintly before going limp, hanging like a rag doll in the knight's hand, while your soul hovered before your body, showing itself to the world. 

Papyrus smiled coldly. _**“And there we have it... a human soul.”**_

 _“PAPYRUS!”_ Bones and spears hurtled in the front, the two weapons passing the limp body dangerously close but no scratch was made to it as they slammed with surprising force against the warrior's chest, shocking him enough to drop the body before he flew backwards from the double blow. Sans flickered in, catching you before you hit the ground as Undyne covered him by hurling more of her spears in Papyrus' direction in distraction. The stocky skeleton blinked away once more, glaring at his brother; his own rage fueling the blue flame that streamed from his eye. His body shook in barely contained fury as he held you close with your soul hovering between your chests. 

He took a minute reign in his emotions and assess the damage done to you. You didn't look very well, not surprising from what you been through, but still serious. You were pale and you breathed very shallowly, your pulse weak but steady. He had to get you to Toriel or something to help you. He switched his gaze to your soul and it looked healthy enough, a rich forest green that pulsed with life and magic. 

That had to be put back in quickly. 

He flexed his fingers nervously before lightly touching the soul with his magic and began to guide it back to its proper place. It should only take a few seconds, then as much as he disliked the idea of it, go over there and kick his brother's ass and-

_Clink!_

Sans froze in mid-rant, staring at your soul that remained hovering close to your body. “What was that?” He narrowed his eyes at the soul and repeated his action, watching closely. The heart shaped soul moved a few inches but bounced back creating a little sound like two wineglasses clinking together, refusing to enter. Or at least it looked like it did. If didn't know any better... he thought he caught a shimmer of orange around your body. “What the hell is that?”

 _ **“That,”**_ Sans looked up and snarled softly as Papyrus drew himself up, brushing the spears off his armor as if it was nothing more than dirt. Undyne pulled her lips back in a snarl as she jumped back to her friend's side, several more spears hovering above her head. Even more littered the ground where the knight stood. Apparently, the former captain had been throwing them to keep him off balance after their initial surprise attack. Papyrus kept his gaze on Sans. _**“would be my doing.”**_

“What did you _do_ to them?!” Undyne snapped, her yellow eye flashing in anger. The knight ignored her, his eyes on Sans.

_**“Their soul will not return, unless** _ **I _say otherwise.”_**

“PUT IT BACK!” Sans snarled, lashing his arm to one side, keeping a hold on you with his other. Several bones materialized and shot forward in rapid fire, a few blue ones mixed in to make it difficult. Papyrus remained still then with surprising speed, drew one of his swords and slashed, destroying the cluster in one stroke. Both monsters' eyes widen in shock. 

The knight lowered his weapon, unimpressed by the display. _**“You lack the will, brother. Both of you do.”**_ He pointed the blade at Sans, directing his contempt at him, _**“And if you lack the will-”**_ Papyrus' face twisted in disgust. _**“then you deserve to**_ **DIE _with the rest of the human filth!”_** The knight snarled and to Sans' horrified shock, an orange Gaster Blaster quickly formed in front of the blade and fired off a fast charge of energy at them.

Sans was so startled by the attack, he didn't think to warp them from the blast. Undyne screamed and threw up her arms in meager defense as Sans curled up around your body in protection. He tensed, a flash of light triggered from the corner of his eyes. A dull roar of an explosion and the ground shook under them...

But no shearing pain came.

Confused, both monsters relaxed their defenses to see what happened and were surprised to see a shimmering green shield had formed, protecting them from the attack. The source coming from a little green heart that hovered protectively in front of them. 

There was a crack on the shield and the heart shuddered...

But your soul **refused** to falter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright before I start being asked WHY Papyrus isn't going hulk rampage with godzilla lasers firing is because... I honestly wanted to make Papyrus' loss of magic control to be different from Sans. And if you think about it, such cases aren't always the same. The loss of control can vary from monster to monster, basic reason is the same as to why they lose control but there are other variables that make each case different. For Sans case, it could've been his relationship to Gaster, could be his mind set or hell his personality and Sans (to some authors) would go berserk and start firing Gaster Blasters at whatever moved. Hell one author had him be killed by those very weapons because he lost control. (I cried at that)
> 
> So I figured, why not make Papyrus' different? What would make him so scary besides going Skullzilla on everyone? And chapter one happened. Why he turned out like that, I'll explain hopefully in another chapter or two, depending on how far this goes.


	3. I need...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, for taking long. I actually was quite stumped on what to do for this chapter since it could've gone in any direction. But kinda... settled on a filler I think? Sans thinks quite a lot here, but shit does get intense!
> 
> But um, I will say this... whatever is said for an explanation in this here chapter... is all guess work. I did think pretty long and hard about it, as well as try to figure out what to do to move forward. I'm aware that I could be majorly wrong, but the sake of the story, this is all I got. But if you want to point out a flaw, by all means, tell me, just don't expect me to change it... unless it blows a hole in my story then I'll consider fixing it. So, yeah just theory at work here. XD
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> -UPDATE-  
> Ah, I know how hard it is to read Sans' thoughts, the font makes it hard to tell it apart. But, I kinda figured something out. If it works, great, if not... I'll try something else. :/ 
> 
> _'This'_ are Sans' thoughts and anything between these -, like -this-, are questions he's asking himself. He talks to himself a lot... its how he thinks, I guess. I hope that helps. :(

Sans couldn't stop staring as the shield stayed, the little heart refusing to let it go out of wariness toward the skeletal knight. Undyne was amazed by the speed in which the soul reacted to protect them from harm. She made a mental note to not piss you off later. The shorter skeleton tightened his hold on you as he thought quickly of what to do. Papyrus was directing at least two Gaster Blasters to fire quick potshots to break the shield. It was holding firm but cracks were forming and eventually it'd break. He and Undyne can fight back but they couldn't manage well by bringing you with them. And they never dared to leave you behind out of fear of the knight just bypassing them to kill you.

No, you had to be somewhere safe. 

“Yo, Undyne.” Sans called, drawing the warrior's attention. She gestured for him to speak his mind while she summoned spears to her and launched them into the air in attack. The idea worked, buying them a few brief seconds as the goat/dragon skulls redirected their shots to destroy the spears. “Think you can hold the fort here while I drop them off with Frisk and the others?”

“Yeah sure, punk.” Undyne waved him away as she fired off more spears, “Take your time, no hurries here.”

Sans gave her a brief worried look, a little unsure about that but shrugged when the former captain glared at him and insisted she'd be fine. He smiled and blinked away with your body in tow. Your soul and Undyne remained, the shield was failing and the knight took notice of it, recalling the Gaster Blasters. 

_**“Hmph. My brother seems to have abandoned you.”**_ Papyrus narrowed his eyes in disgust, seeing how Sans had vanished. _**“The coward.”**_

Undyne barked a laugh, “Nah, don't worry, he'll be back. You'll just have to deal with me first.”

_**“That's a laugh. You declare such a thing while you cower behind a shield?”** _

“Says the one that's just using those weird skulls thing to attack it for you instead of doing it yourself.”

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at that.

“You won't have to wait very long anyway, the shield's gonna break any moment. Besides, I personally want to see what you got.” She twirled the spear in her hand, preparing herself. She held her head high, gazing at him evenly, refusing to shake any further. She had to buy Sans some time, knowing that their friends will fire questions at him about what was happening and that would delay him. Plus, she couldn't let Papyrus run wild now. But deep inside, behind her brave face, she was terrified. How could she even begin to stall him for no more than a few seconds?

Papyrus laughed and it was the most chilling thing she heard from him. _**“Very well. I'll give you a moment to prepare yourself. I am eager to see if you're as strong as you say you are.”**_

Undyne gave a strained smiled as she flicked a brief glance in the direction the others had fled to not too long ago. _'Please hurry, Sans.'_

She summoned her armor, waiting as her magic swirled around her body; fitting the pieces into place with care and practice. 

~~~~~~~

~Meanwhile...

Frisk and the others waited a distance, they couldn't see what was going on but they could hear it. It put them on edge... further edge than they were before when Papyrus began losing control. They all worried for him; You, Undyne and Sans haven't returned. There were screams, an explosion earlier... they heard it... felt the earth rumble for it then nothing. The silence was deafening, making their minds fill the gaps with worse case scenarios but still they waited. 

It drove Frisk nearly mad with it.

Toriel had apologized for taking them away from it all, like they knew she would. But still refused to let Frisk go investigate, motherly instincts kicking in to be protective and she watched Frisk like a hawk; again just like they knew she would. They didn't fault her for it though, Toriel still had... problems letting her go without worry. They knew it stemmed from the loss of both Asriel and Chara, trauma like that doesn't fade easily. Still, a part of them felt annoyed by it. 

Fed up, Frisk began to make their way toward Toriel to, again, make the appeal to go for the umpteenth time; if all else failed... then to hell with it, they're going to run off to check anyway. They'd gladly deal with Toriel's scolding and such later if it meant that they could somehow be of help. They just about reached their mother when Sans blinked into view at the edge of the clearing they waited at. 

Surprised and relieved that the short skeleton was fine, the group rushed forward to question him and learn what was happening. They hadn't gone more than a few feet before he looked up and glared at them. His expression was both grim and serious, his left eye glowing a bright blue dangerous light. That stopped them from moving closer, feeling that they had to step lightly; if not then they'd risk his wrath. Toriel gasped, first to notice that his arms were loaded down with your body and saw that you weren't moving. 

“ **Don't** _crowd_ me.” He growled, holding you closer to him in protective reflex. Seeing that no one dare to move closer, he calmed down and sighed. “I need to speak with Toriel, Frisk and Alphys. We don't have much time here.”

The mentioned trio glanced at each other but hurried over to speak with him. They were shocked to see how pale you looked, so close to death's door but hung on. Toriel dropped to her knees and took your body when Sans handed you over. “Oh goodness... they're so weak.” she whispered in horror, looking you over with a critical eye. “What happened?”

“That's what I wanted to talk to Alphys about.” He replied vaguely and looked uneasy, “But can you promise me to look after them?”

“Of course.”

Sans nodded his thanks and turned to the scientist, who looked at you in shock before forcing her gaze to train on the skeleton. “Alphys, I need to know something...” He hesitated when he glanced at Toriel and Frisk. He mentally cursed to himself. He really should've just spoke to them one at a time. Ah, fuck it. He didn't have time to dance around with this. “Can you tell me how long a human can last without their soul?”

Toriel, Frisk and Alphys gasped, their eyes wide. Your soul was gone? The lizard straightened her glasses, looking nervous as she stepped closer to your body and tried to determine the best answer. Sans knew it was a tough question but he just had to know, he wasn't that well educated in the field of human souls like Alphys was. 

Finally, she shrugged. “I... I don't know for certain...” she said nervously, her fingers tapping together as she fidgeted. “If we were at my lab and had more time, I could give a better answer but I don't know for sure. I've never seen anything like this.”

“Best guess?”

“Um... I'd say at least a half a day to a full day...” Sans sighed in relief but Alphys shook her head as she gave him a serious look. “That's if their soul isn't in use.”

Fuck. So much for that bit of good news. 

Frisk crossed their arms over their chest. “How did they even lose their soul to begin with?” 

He didn't have time for this but answered anyway. “Honestly, I don't know. But Papyrus did something with his magic that allowed him to remove their soul.” Sans shrugged and rubbed his temples as his mind worked quickly, “Even more frightening is the fact his magic is interfering with the soul's ability to return to their body...”

“I'm totally sensing an 'and' in there somewhere.” Frisk pointed out, worried.

“ _And..._ it can't return unless he allows it. Given what he said to me and Undyne... that's not happening any time soon.”

They stared at him in silence as he left the answer hanging, giving them a bit to let it sink in. Toriel looked horrified; Frisk and Alphys looked at each other with troubled expressions. None of them had words to express just how dire the situation was getting. He went silent, still reeling about what was going on. Too much happened in a short amount of time to take it all in. But he still couldn't believe that Papyrus would be doing this. This was Papyrus for fuck's sake! The only monster in the entire planet that didn't have a single bad bone in his body! This wasn't like him at all! He couldn't do anything bad even if you gave him a reason to because he's... well... **Papyrus**! That was all! Papyrus was Papyrus, the most _**pure hearted**_ Monster to ever walk the fucking Earth. No, scratch that! Not the just the Earth but all of fucking Ti-...

Wait...

Sans paused mid-rant, eyes wide. _'What did I just say..?'_ Pure hearted. He was pure of heart... and he just... He groaned in frustration, slapping a hand over his face as realization hit him like a ton of bricks. Of fucking course! How could he have been so stupid as to _forget_ about that?!

The rest of the group stared at him then at each other, confused by his strange behavior. Aside from what was going on... what was with Sans? Frisk rose a brow and cleared their throat. “Ah... you okay, Sans?”

“Yeah yeah, I'm fine.” The skeleton replied absentmindedly, distracted as his mind worked overtime to put pieces together. _'Okay okay, Papyrus is pure and gentle... He trains but never does go all out. He hates doing it because he refuses to harm anyone for anything. And he just lost control because he hadn't been venting his magic like he's suppose to. Kinda hard to train on the surface without humans flipping their shits over it.'_ Sans nodded to himself, mumbling as he began to pace, ignoring everyone else around him as they watched him prowl.

-Okay, got the possible reason for the magic buildup, so then what about his personality change?- _'Right. If the cause was him not venting his magic regularly, then would it be possible that the magic had somehow tainted itself by accident as it was built up? And that in turn had corrupted him temporarily? Being that he's naturally too good, then the magic may have reversed his personality and mindset during the backlash.'_ -Alright, when did the corruption take place during his loss of control?- Sans tilted his head as he tried to recall that horrific scene, scanning the event for any details. There. He remembered two of the tendrils of magic had reversed and struck Papyrus. 

The group watched him with suspicion and uncertainty as he kept pacing, practically making a rut in the ground with his prowling. His hand had come up to cup his chin as he focused on nothing in particular. What was he thinking about? It was starting to creep the others out. Out of the loop for a moment, Toriel focused on just keeping an eye on you to make sure nothing had gotten worse. Alphys watched with interest, curious to know what was going on. And Frisk was just confused, but knowing Sans, it was best to not interrupt his train of thought.

-Okay, that's great. So... why did his own magic corrupt him?- _'Well let's see... Magic is essentially alive... or rather sentient. In a sense that while we can bend magic to our will temporarily to give it a focus, like attacks and daily needs; unattended magic can do as it wishes. Mostly its calm but there will be times in which it will go wild if something upsets its balance.'_ -That's fine and dandy, still doesn't answer the question.-

 _'Not done yet. Unused magic does what it wishes... but if it can't do anything, it gets upset. And Papyrus hadn't been venting his magic through training lately, so the unused magic gets contained and backed up, and that frustrates his magic. So its possible that his magic broke out of his control and lashed at him in punishment for being... well unused.'_ -That's a good start, but WHY did his own magic corrupt him?- _'I don't think his magic meant to corrupt him on purpose, it was most likely an unexpected happenstance... It's own frustration must have been the element that corrupted his personality and mind set, giving us this dark version of my brother.'_

“Sans, you're kinda creeping us out here.” Frisk tried again, hoping they weren't interrupting something important.

Their words fell on deaf ears.

 _'Okay, that's explains him. So what about our current soulless wonder? What do we do about their problem?'_ A grim expression clouded over the skeleton's face as he spared a moment to glance at your body, unsure of what to do about that. There wasn't anything he could do about that, much less deal with Papyrus' problem. Your soul couldn't return and he can't just ram the damn thing back in... well... he probably could but he wasn't going to risk shattering your soul to a million pieces to try it. 

That would be the total **opposite** of _saving_ your life.

And we're not having that, thank you very much.

So there really wasn't anything could do that was within his power... or could he? He stopped to think let his mind wander again for ideas. What do we know about the problem? _'All we know is that Papyrus made it impossible to return their soul unless he wants to... and we know its starting to become a pain in my ass because of it.'_ -Yes, we know its pissing you off (waaah, cry me a river) but its not helping. What do you **know** of it?-

 _'Ah... I don't think he has that ability naturally... could be an anomaly in his magic that allows him to remove souls from humans. And it seems to be disrupting the link between the soul and body to keep it from reentering.'_ -Okay, and?- _'And it only seems to affect humans, given I held them long enough and nothing happened to me. We can't force the soul inside and Papyrus, right now, sure as hell won't let it go without a fight. I'm assuming the soul is still valuable but useless to absorb if the human in question is alive still. So he's likely to try and finish them off. But we're running on borrowed time, we need to find a way to get their soul back inside their body.'_ -Alright, how do we go about doing that?-

Sans groaned again, rubbing the heels of his hands against his eye sockets as he wracked his brain for a solution. But he couldn't think of anything to remove that barrier around your body. -You're gonna have to break it to save their life, you know.- _'I FUCKING KNOW! But I just **don't know how!** '_ How the fucking hell was he suppose to do that?! Smash it with his fist? _'What the hell do you want from me brain!? I can't go through the barrier! I can't go around it and I sure as hell can't trick Papyrus into dropping it! What do, damnit!? WHAT DO!?'_ He growled angrily at himself, scrubbing his fingers against his skull as if he could rip an idea out. There weren't any options left to break the barrier. Its not like he could just _drain_ the damn thing!

Wait... drain?

Sans stopped his pacing again, eyes wide. He could drain it, its a viable option. Now he just needed to figure out how to go about doing that. He closed his eyes and rubbed at his temples, _'Okay okay, drain... drain... how do I drain it? Um... let's see... the barrier's made up of Papyrus' magic, the wild out-of-control magic. And that's connected to him... so I have to have him drain it somehow but how? Usual tactics won't work, considering how sharp Papyrus is right now. And the out of control phase takes awhile to...'_ He smiled, laughing breathlessly, startling the others around him. “That's it!”

Frisk and Alphys cocked their heads to the side, confused by his outburst. Toriel blinked owlishly at him, “Uh... what's it?”

Sans, again, didn't hear them in favor of grinning happily. _'Okay, okay I know how to do this! I know how to fix the ever loving hell out of this! But I need something to help me. I'm no match for him as is, I need help. But no one here has the magic to stand up against Papyrus. Um... um.. I need...'_ He searched around, eyes falling on your body... hope dawning in his eyes. _'I need...'_

His eyes fell on Frisk, who gazed at him in concern. “Sans? Seriously... you okay?”

_'I need...'_

Sans smiled tightly, “I'm fine, sorry about the scare. Just got caught up in thinking of what to do about the situation.”

They sighed in relief, though worry still clouded their features. “Oh... think of anything?”

_'I need...'_

“Actually yeah, I did.” 

“Great! What do we do? Can I help?”

_'I need...'_

Sans rubbed the back of his skull, suddenly hesitant. Why was he hesitating? He didn't have time to dance around this! But... if anything went wrong... he'd never forgive himself. _'Stop wasting time.'_ He sighed and hoped this worked. “Actually, yeah you can, kiddo. In fact you're the only one who can right now.” His smile strained a little more, “I... Can I... borrow something from you?”

Frisk blinked, surprised then confused by the request. “Ah, sure? I don't know what I have that could help... but what do you need?”

_'I need...'_

Dear god, this better fucking work. The skeleton took a deep breath and exhaled, calming himself. He straightened his back and opened his eyes, leveling a cool stare at Frisk. A thin wisp of blue flame trailed from his left eye as it glowed. He silently threw a prayer to whatever god had the mercy to listen.

_'I need...'_

**Please** let this work.

“I need your soul.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to remind you, everything was just guess work, please don't hound me with 'YOU'RE WRONG!' AND IT'S SUPPOSE TO BE LIKE THIS!' It's just a theory I made in regards to the story, and theories tend to be wrong. Deal with it.
> 
> But anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! See you next chapter! Which may take a little longer to write, kinda got all kinds of ideas buzzing around and I need to pin down one that would be best for the story. :)


	4. Undyne vs Doom Knight Papyrus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I did my best on this batte wise. I'm kinda still cringing at it but, like I said, battle scenes are not my forte. Also sorry if the ending of the chapter looks off or anything. I really didn't know how to end it, so I winged it. XD;
> 
> But here we are! :D We get to see Undyne go up against this corrupted Papyrus! How will she do?
> 
> Btw, I'm going to need you readers' help. Since I suck at making puns, I need puns sent my way for use for Sans. You'll find out soon enough why. You can give them here or drop them off in my ask box on my tumblr!
> 
> vixthefantheorist.tumblr.com
> 
> There's note about Toriel at the chappy end.

Frisk's eyes widen at those four words, shocked by the request. But they searched his gaze, trying to see what it is that would compel him to ask them for their soul. Aside from the fact, Papyrus is currently on a rampage, it wasn't long that they understood why.

Sans was desperate.

But before they could voice anything, such as ask what was the plan, Toriel beat them to it first. She shot up from her position, her protective streak kicking in once more to protect her child. Neither Frisk and Sans blamed her for it. This _is_ a pretty risky move. “Sans! How could you ask for such a thing?!” the goat woman cried out in fear, “I know you mean well but this? This far too dangerous! Please don't as-” But before she could say anything else, a blue aura surrounded her and she suddenly felt heavy... too heavy to stay on her feet.

 **“Toriel.”** Sans' voice came out like growl as she slowly sank back down on her knees. He relieved the pressure but kept the magic still on her. He didn't enjoy doing it to her, nor enjoyed the shocked and even frightened look on everyone's faces because of the action. “I know you mean well, you love Frisk with all your heart just as much as the rest of us. So forgive me for saying this but I **don't** have the _time_ to deal with your overprotective bullshit right now.”

She winced at his tone and he grimaced in response. “But...”

“No, **listen.** ” He hissed, flicking his gaze to her. “Look at who's in front of you soulless!” Her eyes fell upon your body quietly. “Papyrus ripped their soul out and they're _dying_ because of it!” He gestured angrily toward the general direction of where his rampaging brother was along with their friends. “Undyne and their soul are OUT _THERE_ , battling him right now and he's not going to spare them! He will kill Undyne, take the human soul and come **_here_** to finish them off. And probably kill the lot of you as well! I'm trying to stop him.”

The group looked at each other then, out beyond the trees and then back to Sans silently. Frisk fidgeted, looking at everyone else and quietly started to weigh their options. It wasn't because they were scared (and they were) but had to think about if this plan of his whatever it was would be the best option.

Sans continued, shaking slightly under his jacket. “I'm scared of what my plan would do. I really am. I'm worried it won't work and that things will happen that I can't fix. But that's why I'm asking Frisk for their help.” He lowered his hand and the blue gravity magic surrounding Toriel dispelled at his mental command. The skeleton looking at his long time pun buddy with sadness. “If they refuse then I'll respect that and find some other way to do this...” He smiled at Toriel. “Its Frisk's decision. Shouldn't you have more faith in them for that?”

A sheen of tears formed in Toriel's eyes in realizing he was right. She jolted a bit in surprise at the sudden hug she received, smiling as she hugged her child in return. “I'm sorry, he's right, my child. He is asking _you_ for help. But whatever you decide, I'll support it.”

“Thank you, Mom.” Frisk whispered, firmly holding onto their decision. 

“So, what do you say, kiddo? Think you're up for this?”

Frisk stood back from Toriel and grinned at Sans. Well, they did want to help and now was their chance to do it. They saw no real reason to refuse.

“Aside from needing my soul for this... what's the plan?”

“Well, let's just say we're gonna test my theory. And this theory will be our plan.” Sans began, hands in his pockets, “You see we're gonna be doing...”

~~~~~~  
~Battlefield

Undyne fixed her helmet into place and took up her spear just as the shield flickered and shattered. The little heart jumped at the sight of it, making a little dash toward setting it up again but stopped when the fish warrior held up her fist. “Don't. The shield will keep him stalled for a little longer, but he'll get bored and leave.” she whispered to you. “We have to keep him here away from everyone else until Sans gets back.”

You protested with a little titter of bells.

“Don't do that, you sound like a little fairy. Heh. Fairy partner.” the warrior mumbled and snerked to herself as he eyed Papyrus shift into a ready stance. “For that matter, you stay here. We don't need him snatching you up to be a pet or something.” 

You tittered again.

“You realize I can't really understand you, right? Look, just stay here and keep an eye out for Sans.”

With that said Undyne charged forward, screaming her battle cry and lunged for the taller skeleton. The knight shifted to a defensive stance, swords drawn up to block. He was startled as Undyne stabbed the earth before her and used her spear to pole vault the remaining distance. She smashed her feet against the flats of the blades, the force of her momentum jarring his arms with pain and weakening his defense. Before she lost her rhythm, however, she launched herself skyward, another spear spinning her hands. 

Papyrus stumbled back, shocked that she had just used him as a launch pad. He honestly didn't see that coming but it was effective, he'd give her that. His bones were still rattled from the force of the blow and his arms were in pain from it. He grinned to himself, she weakened his defense a little. He looked up and watched as she spun her weapon and let gravity do the rest of the work for her. Undyne dropped out of the sky, her spear clutched close to her body but the spearhead was pointing down toward the earth. With his defenses weakened for the moment and his arms no yet recovered from the jarring, Papyrus knew he couldn't block it as well as he knew he could. Instead, the knight leaped backwards, away from the point of impact and watched with some fascination as she drove the weapon into the ground, dirt shooting up like a geyser.

He didn't get time to admire the crater she left behind as aqua colored spears flew out from the dirt smog. The skeletal knight grunted in annoyance as he batted them aside, slicing a few before they reached him. His eyes widen a little as he realized it was, again a distraction, spying Undyne as she sped out from the smog as well. She swung her weapon as hard as she could, aiming to try to knock him out as fast as possible. 

Undyne was fast but Papyrus was faster at this range. 

He crossed his swords before him and caught the attack, locking their weapons together and clashed in a battle of strength. He grinned at her. _**“Congratulations, Captain. You are strong as you say,”**_ His grin sharpened, _**“But let's see if you can keep that up.”**_

“Bring it then, Papyrus!”

_**“As you wish.”** _

His grin widen as he spun in place, his swords using the teeth on the backs of the blades to clamp tighter on spear and threw her over his shoulder. The spear fizzling out as she passed over head in shock, caught off guard by the counter. Undyne hit the ground hard on her back, her breath escaping her but rolled aside, missing his follow up by a scant amount of time. Her helmet had popped off but she kept rolling, coughing to get air back into her lungs as the skeleton turned himself into a windmill of death. His swords swinging in wide arcs, slicing at the dirt and grass, trying to dig the blades into her. The swords had nipped at her armor, doing little damage but it was geared to prevent her from retaliating. She had to stop his attack in order for her to even stand a chance. 

The fish warrior slapped a hand against the dirt, a spear thrusting upwards from ground and repelled the windmill of swings, forcing Papyrus' arms to bounce out of rhythm. Undyne rolled her feet, another spear in hand and dashed forward, the spear head a blur of movement as she struck him repeatedly as fast as she could. She didn't dare stab at any vital points, afraid that in the frenzy of battle she could kill Papyrus in the heat of it all. Instead, she focused on wearing him down, striking at points that would cause damage without killing him. 

The skeletal knight growled as Undyne began her relentless barrage but he didn't take it lightly. Several had struck him hard but the majority he parried and deflected as he struck back with the same speed and power. Both spear and swords became blurs as they traded blows, striking limbs and marring armor. But Papyrus gave a chilling smile; he knew… he knew very well she was aiming to wear him out. He already told them that if they lacked the intent then there was no way they could overcome him. Still, it was… amusing to see his former mentor struggle to bring him down. 

But the best part?

Oh the very best part?

It seemed as if the captain had all forgotten the lessons she taught him.

 _ **Never**_ go **easy** on the enemy.

Papyrus flipped one blade to hold in reverse, the teeth of the back of the blade now taking the dominate side. He swung it hard, hooking the teeth to the heads of the spear and jerked it aside, snapping the point off. He drank in Undyne's expression of shock at the feat as the magical spear shattered in her hands. _'Tsk tsk. You should know better than to leave yourself wide open!'_ His grin turned shark-like as her stunned looked switched to that pain as he backhand slammed the teeth of the other sword against her chest with surprising force. The teeth puncture through and tore at the armor, ripping strips from it as she flew back from the blow. Several bones shot after her in a follow up.

The fish warrior hurtled back, screaming in both shock and pain. _'How…? How did he do that!?'_ No one had ever shattered her spear before! The thought was banished as she managed to twist in the air to get her legs under her before landing, gritting her teeth at force that jarred her legs. She didn't get much of a chance to dodge as the bones caught up to her and rammed into her, tearing a cry of pain from her as they sent her sprawling onto her back. She panted as she struggled to her knees and eyed Papyrus racing forward for another attack. Her hand touched her chest armor and flinched at the buckled and mangled metal. Thankfully the armor had saved her from a crushing blow but the teeth still left cuts on her chest. 

“Holy shit… if this is what Papyrus could do without holding back… then I don't know who's in more trouble… us monsters in the underground or humanity.” She whispered to herself, throwing herself to the side in evasion of another Gaster Blaster attack, the beam decimating several trees behind her. She sent off another barrage of spears at him, trying to buy some time to recover. “Who the hell am I kidding? Both are royal screwed. Hell, if I hadn't fought Asgore before, I'd say this Papyrus is stronger or equal to the king.” 

Bones peeked from the ground under her and only had seconds to let out a string of curses before smaller bones launched themselves at her in attempt to trip her. She bounced lightly on her feet, avoiding them, awkwardly dancing around them as the ground came alive with dozens of small bones. As she pranced to avoid them as best as possible, several others turned in place to target her before erupting from their places, slamming into her sides in a pincher, digging into the armor that protected her body. It saved her from being skewered completely, it still delivered a painful blow, cracking one of her ribs. Her armor wouldn't be able to protect her for long, of that she was certain. Another blow and the magical metal would shatter, not that it would matter… she was dipping dangerously below half heath. 

Anymore and she'll be dust.

A lone bone peeked from the ground before her.

Undyne gritted her teeth as she glared at it. Well, so much for not being skewered. “Fffuuuck...” she hissed as she struggled against the bones that kept her trapped where she was.

 _ **“Congratulations, Captain.”**_ Papyrus smirked, his eyes still burning that eerie orange flame. The bone slid out a little more from the ground, aligning itself to pierce the former captain's body. _**“That was quite the battle. You ARE as strong as you had claimed.”**_

Undyne directed her glare toward him, lips pulled back in a snarl at his arrogance. If killing this Papyrus didn't mean that her dear friend would also die at the same time, she would enjoy punching his teeth to the back of his skull for mocking her.

 _ **“Sadly, Captain… this won't happen again.”**_ The knight's smile turned deadly, the bone in the ground, sliding further out to catch her attention. Undyne ignored it, her gaze trained on her enemy. Papyrus allowed himself a secret smile at her focus. Just as strong and stubborn as he knew her to be. A pity that it'll all end right here… right now. _**“I'll end this quickly for old times sake.”**_

He flicked his hand and the bone shot out from the ground like an arrow, aiming to spear the warrior and reduce her to dust. 

Undyne shook slightly in fear but refused to tear her gaze away from Papyrus, glaring at him. If this was it then… she did all she could to buy Sans the time he needed. The rest was left up to him. She closed her eyes, summoning an image of her greatest treasure that was so dear to her. _'I'm sorry Alphys… I-'_

 _CRACK!_

The sound startled Undyne out of her trance, knowing that wasn't the sound of her turning into dust. That was the sound of something hard shattering against something equally as hard. She blinked against the bright green light that flashed before her, recognizing it. “What..?”

The bone that had been designed to deliver Undyne's death shattered against the familiar green barrier. Another large crack had formed on it, showing the amount of power behind the bone that the shield had struggled to keep away from her. Once again, the little green heart hovered before former captain protectively as it continued to maintain the shield. 

Beyond the shield was Papyrus, glaring in rage as his attack was again blocked by the damnable human soul. If it weren't for the fact he needed this soul to complete the log time plan of breaking the barrier with seven human souls, he would break the damn thing into a million of pieces for being a thorn in his side.

But…

...Fuck it. He was in the human world. How, he wasn't sure but that just meant there were plenty of human souls to harvest. Shattering one wouldn't make much of a difference, now would it?

The knight shot forward.

The heart quivered in anger, reinforcing the shield it as best you could and braced for impact. Sword met shield and it was the most jarring thing you felt in your life. The cracked deepened and another formed, thinner ones webbing across the surface, evidence of the amount of force behind the knight's blow. The shield held but you knew it couldn't take another hit like that again without shattering. 

For a split second, a strange expression ghosted across Papyrus' face and his eye flickered in recognition the same amount of time. A phantom image of you shimmered into view, blocking his attempt of killing Undyne. Arms and legs spread wide in the universal protective stance, face set in a stubborn glare. Friend or not, you'll be damned before you let the knight come within an inch of killing the fish warrior. 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Papyrus had an inkling about the way you held yourself. It… it confused him. Before, he saw you shaking and screaming in fear of him but now..? He could almost swear that he saw that look before… 

It took him a long moment before the expression dully came to mind. He knew what that was now...

You were **determined** to protect Undyne with your life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I messed with Toriel because really, one I needed the drama a little. And two, I don't think Toriel really got over the deaths of Asirel and Chara so I would think she would still have some problems in letting Frisk do anything dangerous. I don't blame her for it but Frisk sometimes has to do this for the good of both humans and monsters. Frisk doesn't enjoy jumping in but if its to help someone, they'll do it. Especially for their friends, regardless of the danger.
> 
> But hey, I don't make it like Toriel is bad just still damaged and skittish, but is working on overcoming them. besides, mothers often worry anyway. So why not her?
> 
> But if you'r just gonna whine about how OOC Toriel is, I'm not gonna care. I cringe I had to but I'm not sorry for the sake of the story.


	5. Reader vs Doom Knight Papyrus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alright, first off, this chapter is brand new in the sense that I didn't have this planned until just yesterday (finished typing it up this morning at 4am.) so I'm excited to show you guys!
> 
> It was inspired by the songs DM DOKURO - BONESCUFFLE (Undertale remix) and Undertale Spider Dance (Muffet theme) Dual Mix. The beat of the songs just somehow sprung this idea out and I just had to share it!
> 
> I hope you really enjoy this chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now I still need puns for the next chapter. (Sans ain't Sans without some puns in there somewhere) but I was given a tip by someone to check a place to gather some but the table is still open to throw some at me if you know any!
> 
> Now before I get questions, I'll have the gist of an answer at the end of the chapter. If you still don't understand then hit me up in the comments here or on my tumblr here: vixthefantheorist.tumblr.com
> 
> Like I said before, this story is based on personal vision and theory, its not gonna be perfect.

For the second time, Undyne looked up at you in awe, again amazed by your speed to defend her with that shield you used. Not only that but the shield had wrapped around them in dome shape, maybe even as a sphere with the other half underground. Again, the fish monster was stunned as she realized the soul energy had sliced through and dispelled the bones holding her and may even go as far as preventing anymore bones from getting through. 

Though the former captain wasn't sure if that was an ability you possessed or it was a simple matter of luck. She had seen Papyrus' startled look before it melted into irritation a second later, so that could reason why the bones were dissipated so easily. You had disrupted his concentration with the sudden appearance. Still your determination showed through and saved her life. 

Undyne was honestly grateful for that. 

Ruining that pleasant feeling was the sudden heavy fatigue she felt once her body realized the toll she took. Especially her cracked rib, which stubbornly made itself be known and forcing her to collapse onto her knees. After bearing the pain a little, Undyne just then realized the gravity of the situation had turned for the worst. She was too battered to continue fighting, not to mention she just didn't have the magic to even maintain her armor; sighing as she watched it fragment and fall, disintegrating into the air. Whatever magic she did have left was at work in trying to heal her wounds as best it could. Which still wasn't it enough sadly.

Even worse, was now that you were in line of sight to the doom knight, the green shield still having barely held off his attack earlier. Undyne was relieved at the save and grateful for it, but she was now fearful that you weren't going to escape his wrath this time. The former captain shook her head clear of the negative thoughts and gritted her teeth as she forced herself to stand, another spear in hand. Sans trusted her to protect you and damnit she was going to do just that!

She shifted to the side to go around you, “Alright, human... Let me handle him now I'm good to go again.” Actually, no she wasn't and part of her was aware that you knew it too. But she was charged to deal with Papyrus until Sans returned... which by the way, where the **fuck** is he? 

Her assumption proved true as your phantom image sidled along to stay directly in front of her. Undyne huffed as you looked over your shoulder with a shake of your head, indicating that you weren't going to let her continue. Your attention was back on Papyrus as you heard the fish monster mutter to herself about stubborn humans. You just smiled a little to yourself about it.

“I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around.” she griped, scowling at you. You look over your shoulder again, sending her a grateful smile before pointing at yourself then pointing at her. Your head tilted a little with a small smirk. 

Undyne lifted a brow before getting the idea of what you were saying. “You're going to protect me now?” You nod. She shook her head at your logic, gesturing to Papyrus, who had yet to move, seemingly distant for a second. “But you're no match for him, in fact you never fought anyone before!” 

You hand wiggled in a tilting motion, the universal sign of 'so-so' as Undyne glared at you. “Sparring doesn't count! I know Frisk was teaching you how to dodge but that's not going to help us stop Papyrus!”

You shrugged, tittering softly. And if Undyne didn't know any better, she could've swore she heard you say, _“I know but its all I have.”_ She watched you set your face back to being determined and let the matter drop as you face the skeletal knight again, still tittering. _“I'll protect you like you did for me.”_ Undyne sighed and gave up on talking you out of it. She saw the anger that sparked in your soul that told her that weren't going to listen. 

In fact, you had enough of this. You were done listening and sitting by while your friends risked their lives for you. It was no one's fault that it came to this. Papyrus wasn't himself, his magic was out of control and forcing him to do this; perhaps he wasn't even unaware of what he was doing. Or worse he was aware but again, could do nothing but watch. You knew it would haunt him deeply if he was aware, blaming himself for failing to protect his friends and see himself as a threat to them. The vibrate and friendly skeleton reduced to being terrified of himself...

The thought of it filled you with determination to stop this somehow.

Just in time too. 

Papyrus was already swinging his sword at your shield.

Startled, both you and Undyne jumped back, seeing that he took opportunity of your distraction to attack. You threw your arms up in reflex to ward off the attack, thoughts running through your soul of slowing his attack. To push him away as his weapon ruptured the shield, and sped forward to swing his second blade at your soul in attempt to cleave you in half with an overhead slash. You could see the orange rings flare bright at the thought of your death. 

You were dimly aware of Undyne screaming for you but you didn't react to her words, your thoughts consuming you. _“Get away! Getawaygetawaygetaway!”_

Green light flashed and wrapped around you and thickened, looking like a flimsy shield sphere. But it looked too thick and squishy. The hell is this? Well whatever it was had caught Papyrus' attack and you watched in disbelief as the sword suddenly slowed before stopping. The skeleton was equally astonished as he tried to push his sword forward and it moved sluggishly along like it was moving around in some kind of gel. Then that's what you realized what the shield turned into... 

It was a slime barrier, designed by your thoughts to slow his attack.

In the same amount of time, you also realized that one of your hands was held up and your fingers were curled around the air like you were holding something from stabbing you. It dawned on you, that you were holding the knight's sword magically in your hand. Without really thinking (which you would later guess was by instinct), your hand tightened its grip. 

All three of you watched in stunned silence as the soul energy followed your movements; a tendril appeared out of the slime shield and coiled itself around the blade before it traveled upward to latch onto the arm holding the weapon. You pulled your arm back, still clutching the air; the energy responded and yanked him into the gel, dragging him close so you could look at his face. 

You felt your face switch from being surprised to give a determined glare before your arm shot forward, pushing the air away from you and releasing your grip. In total sync with your action, your soul energy shoved Papyrus away with such force he practically looked like he was shot out of a cannon. The skeleton flew backwards, too shocked to even scream or rage as he hurtled back, slamming against a tree so hard it splintered from the blow.

“Holy shit!” Undyne stared at the tree before turning her gaze onto you. “How the fuck did you do that!?”

You stuttered in your tittering, sounding a bit like quivering bells as you looked at your transparent hands. _“I-I-I don't know! It just... happened? I-I got scared!”_

The fish warrior blinked, realizing she could hear you now (just barely though); as the gelatin shield around you quivered and wiggled in your movements before letting herself chuckle nervously as she pressed her fingers to her forehead. Wow, how the hell did she forget about that? “Ah, don't worry about it... I remember why.” She smiled as you gave her a quizzical look, “You're just a soul now. That's your soul energy, _your_ magic; its reacting to what you want it to do, I think.” 

You tittered again, looking at her helplessly. _“Is... is that a good thing?”_

Undyne narrowed her eyes as she tried to catch the words that sounded like a whisper. “Better than just dodging, I'd say. I know you don't want to hit him or mean to but we can't dodge him forever. Though it looks as if you only...” Before she could finish, a stream of bones hailed your way in a bullet storm and a few seconds later, Papyrus charged after them, intent on hitting you with a double strike. 

You reacted, suddenly spinning on your heel, one arm arced as if to slap the bones aside. Your magic responded eagerly, a tendril arching and following your spin, catching a majority of the projectiles within the gooey mess of its own arm. Several pierced through, nipping and slashing at your soul as the sped past. They missed Undyne as she quickly dropped to the grass, so you were glad for that. You were amazed that you felt hand clutch something and realize you could feel an odd sensation of the bones in the magic's grasp. 

And then you realized what you were doing. You weren't an offensive fighter, only defensive in retaliation to his attacks. At least that's what you were hoping for... right now your magic was just reacting on the instinct of survival.

You completed the spin, arm lashing hard and in a wide arc; the tendril released its grip on the bones with a loud snap. The projectiles whipped back, striking the earth in quick succession; trees were skewered, dirt flew in short bursts and Papyrus was caught in the attack, but you couldn't see how he fared it. You were still surprised at how your magic reacted but you were getting the idea of how it worked. You wrung your hands in worry that your magic could be too much. You wanted to stop him, not kill him!

Bright orange peeked from the smog of dirt and you felt the gather of energy being centered to that thing. 

You jolted in recognition before quickly letting your magic grab Undyne and you threw yourself out of harm's way as the dirt smog was blown away by a Gaster Blaster attack. The beam of destructive energy racing by and ripped a hole in the ground somewhere behind you. It was close that's for sure as you felt the heat of the energy as it exploded, the shock-wave ramming into your back to shove you forward. 

As you stumble forward from the shock-wave, your eyes widen in horror in understanding that the Gaster Blaster had been Papyrus' own distraction; allowing him to close the distance to bring you within striking range. His face was covered in shadow but you could make out his sharp grin as the orange rings glowed in his eyes in apparent victory. 

_**“Is that really the best you can do?”**_ Papyrus hissed darkly, the grin never changing. _**“Your attack is fast but pitiful!”**_ He snarled before you suddenly felt one blade slice at your soul, the attack was lowered a little by the gelatin barrier but it still caused a substantial amount of damage to you. Your heart flickered in response to the hit just as his other sword joined the fray but there wasn't pain. At least not in the sense of your health dropping; but the pain of feeling the wind getting knocked out of you as the blade smashed into your chest and sent you flying upwards. 

The doom knight laughed as he ignored Undyne, who screamed in worry for you. _**“Did you honestly think you could harm me by chipping away at my health with just one point of damage?!”**_ He sneered up at your tumbling form, his words registering in your mind. Wait, you were only dealing just one point of damage per strike? How shit could your attacks be!? Then again, that was a good thing, least you can't kill him by accident... hopefully. 

He smiled as he watched you flail; as annoying as you were to him in your constant knack of preventing him from killing Sans and Undyne... he was actually having a lot more fun than he thought. He rarely had to fight this hard before. The captain had always given him a good spar but even that had been lacking in his opinion. 

But this time? 

This time he was having a thrill he never felt in a long time. Still, he had a mission to complete and he played around long enough. He basically figured out how you fought and he wasn't going to plan in giving you any kind of breathing room. If he couldn't attack you outright, then time to test how fast you were. The skeleton summoned a large bone from the ground underneath his feet, commanding it to erupt with such a force to propel himself at Undyne, who was distracted by watching you flail in the air. 

You briefly wondered why his follow up swing hadn't damaged you tumbled end over end through the air. A memory bubbled up in your soul's mind, recalling Frisk's words as they were teaching you dodging tactics. 

*~*~*

_“You need to read your opponent's moves to dodge the attacks better. But don't worry if you get hit. If you take damage, your soul will be granted a mercy frame.”_

_“What's a mercy frame?”_

_“A mercy frame is a phase that your soul will flicker, any attack that strikes your soul while flickering will cause no damage to you. You can use that to your advantage to move to a more suitable spot to dodge some more.”_

*~*~*

Oh. That's right. 

You did see your heart flicker just before Papyrus slammed that second sword into you. You wonder if he knew of that. No, doesn't look like he does, otherwise what would be the point of him attacking you again so soon after the first strike? Either way, it was your advantage as you managed to straighten yourself out just in time to see him fly toward a distracted and helpless Undyne. 

The little green heart lurched in fear at Papyrus' change of tactics. You tittered loudly. _“Undyne! NO!”_ You lash a hand toward earth closest to the fish monster, watching as your magic obeyed the silent command as a tendril of forest green shot toward its goal. You watched as Undyne jumped back in surprise as the tendril stabbed the earth, before seeing the doom knight's looming form coming at her, paling at the thought of death. _“GET AWAY FROM HER!”_ You jerked your arm back, the tendril responded in yanking you down from the air so fast you just slung-shot your way across the distance. 

What you didn't notice, however, was the simple fact that you were traveling the same speed as Papyrus was. That in turn caused you to collide into him, sending him crashing off course and into ground, digging up a trench as he went. The accidental attack wasn't without price, making you flinch as your heart flickered from smashing into the knight's thick armor. 

You stagger to your feet dizzily as a thought buzzed across your mind for a brief second. How the hell were you not even dead yet? You jolted a little as you felt a hand on your shoulder and Undyne whispered in your ear as she watched the distance. “Human, listen to me, you need to pull back.”

You shook your head, regretting it a little as you vision swam. You felt so tired... adrenaline crash? Wait... you weren't in your body anymore. Do souls gets adrenaline crashes?

The former captain hissed, “Seriously, you need to. Your health is about to hit zero damnit.” 

You went still, tittering softly. _“How low?”_

Undyne went quiet for a bit then sighed, “Ten health points left out of two hundred.” She felt you shiver in fear and continued to whisper. “Normally I would question why your health is that high when you swore you never killed a monster before. Figured you were lying somehow.” 

You went to protest but she hushed you, “But then I figured something out. You're determined to protect us in whatever way... you're determined to protect me and even go as far as being determined to save Papyrus from his magic backlash.” She sighed, “I don't know much about souls like Alphys but I think your determination is beefing up your health and defense but leaves you with a real shitty attack power, even your evasion took a hit from that kind of intent. But that's just a guess of mine. Alphys would know more about it hopefully.”

Her eye scanned the battlefield and sensed him. She moved her hand to the back of your soul. “I recovered enough magic to do this for you since you're not backing away.” You blinked but shivered as an odd but pleasant sensation pulsed through you and in your soul's eye, you could see your health regaining points. Undyne was healing you. You glance at her in question and she grinned tiredly at you. “Members of the Royal Guard have to have some basic healing training. I wasn't an exception to it, granted we never really had much use for it outside of healing sparring injuries.”

You felt refreshed, seeing that your health was topped off but came at a price. You cried out as Undyne wavered and dropped to one knee, once again drained of magic; having forced every ounce she could spare to heal you completely even if her healing skills weren't exactly the best. As you moved to help her, the former captain waved you away. “Don't worry about me. Focus on him. He's coming.”

You turn back to where you sent the knight crashing and sure enough, Papyrus stood there as stoic as ever. And just as refreshed as you were. Shit, he just healed himself didn't he? Yeah, he did and you knew it. But... there was something else to it as well. You don't know why but you felt that something was different about him, you couldn't quite put your finger on it but you know something changed. You ignored it in favor of focusing as he clapped his hands mockingly at you.

_**“My my, certainly didn't expect you to pull such a maneuver. Granted you have some skill for preventing me in claiming my kills.”** _

You tittered angrily, shifting into a defensive stance, again making sure you planted yourself between him and Undyne. _“Leave her out of this. You fought with her before and now your fight is with me.”_

He shrugged nonchalantly, _**“That may be true but it seems as though the Captain had failed in teaching you the basics of war.”**_ You rolled your eyes at the declaration. This whole arrogant manner did not suit Papyrus well at all and you couldn't wait for him to return to normal. He drew his sword and waved it dismissively around the area they stood in. _**“In the battlefield... everyone in the enemy's forces is fair game to kill. Whether or not they're ready to fight again.”**_

_“How honorable of you.”_

_**“War has nothing to do with honor, human. You should know that. Your species does that enough in their history.”**_ Papyrus hissed, his tone a whip of contempt as he glared at you. _**“The ends justify the means and anyone... anyone who stands in the way of that goal is to be put to death.”**_

_“What does that have to do with anything?”_

_**“Undyne failed to collect your soul while knowing fully well that we are to get seven human souls. We only have six... and yours was just right there and she didn't get it. Such failure is not allowed within the Royal Guard... regardless of position. She will pay for her failure with her life as well as that of my useless brother.”** _

You tense and growl, preparing yourself for whatever attack that may come. _“Cry me a fucking river, I'm not letting you hurt Undyne or Sans.”_

 _ **“We'll see.”**_ he murmured before suddenly dashing forward, startling you at his speed. You didn't get to raise a defense before his swords were slashing into you. Your barrier absorbed the brunt of the force but the blade still cut into you, making your heart flicker. You jolted as you realize he was going to repeat the same tactic as before, the second blade smashing into your chest to send you flying upward again. 

Papyrus grinned as he prepared to launch himself at Undyne again but you were ready this time. His smile was short lived and replaced with a dumbstruck look as you shot a tendril at him, wrapping it around his waist and jerking him toward you. He didn't see it coming, that was for sure, but he shook himself out of it and took the opportunity to attack you with a frenzy. 

You cry out in pain as you felt the blades slice into you but didn't stop you from moving your arms, shoving both your hands out toward him, palms facing him. Tendrils of soul magic answered your call, striking back at Papyrus with same ferocity he displayed in attacking you. They stabbed into his body, doing minimal damaged but striking just as fast as he did. You were lucky that your soul repeatedly went into the mercy frame, most of his attacks doing nothing to you as they phased though you. But it still didn't keep the fear of dying right then and there from taking too much damage.

You both paused in your attacks, glaring at one another. You were amazed that both you and Papyrus pulled your arms back for overhead strikes. Your soul was still flickering by the time you attacked each other at the same time. The knight's sword strike smashing into you and sent you plummeting to the earth below just as the soul tendril rammed into his chest, punching him backwards to crash into the ground in an angle away from you.

Two dirt geysers blew when the two of you land.

You huffed as you stumble to your feet, checking your damage as the fish warrior ran toward you and flinched at missing another large chunk of health. You honestly didn't know how long you could keep this up. You doubt Undyne had recovered enough to heal you again and you weren't willing to weaken her again just for that. Hell you don't even know how much damage you scratched into Papyrus' health. Not a whole lot you figure, given your poor attack score. But then again, beating him wasn't exactly the plan. As far as you knew, you only had to stall him until Sans arrived with something to help you and Undyne... maybe some back up. 

Backup would be nice. Yeah, that'd be great right now actually. 

You puffed, staring at the direction Papyrus had been thrown to and got ready, focusing on catching him. Sensing his approach, Undyne shifted to get out of your way, staying behind you a few paces to give you room to jump back when you needed to. You spied a flash of orange within the smokescreen seconds before the doom knight raced out, a cluster of bones following him before he sent them to go around him and attack first. You growl, lashing your arm out to let the tendril to sweep them aside, hopefully to knock the skeleton away as well. It didn't work out as you hoped as he ducked under it as he kept running toward you. 

You hiss and held out your hand, a tendril catching his swing and lifted him high before smashing into the ground and threw him aside, dragging him across the ground while at it. Papyrus skipped along the ground before catching himself, getting his feet under him to land; sword stabbed and digging a trail along the ground to slow his speed. He laughed, eyes flashing brightly in a flare of orange flame as he thrust an arm toward you. The ground rumbled and came alive once more as bones charged toward you and Undyne from all sides ground-wise. 

_“Shit.”_ You jumped back and nearly land right on Undyne as you focused on creating a shield again to wrap around the both of you to block the hits. You shivered as you felt the shield shake and tremble under the onslaught of bones that were slamming against it with heavy force. You glare beyond your bubble of protection at Papyrus that stood back and directed the bones to keep attacking. You glare even more at his smug look.

Cheeky sonofa-

A pair of Gaster Blasters appeared on either side of you, mouths open to fire. You let out a string of curses as you coil one tendril of magic around her and jump back a couple of times to escape the blast radius, pulling her along. The lasers fired, passing each dragon like skull, even from a distance you could feel the heat of their energy. The bones kept their relentless attack on your shield as another pair of Blasters appeared on your front and back. You hiss as you barely dodge again as they released their charges, part of the laser kissed the shield and began shaving away at it. You shifted again to prevent it from breaking through. 

The bones continued to dog you, it was taking its toll as fractures formed all around. You hiss as you focused on reinforcing it. _“Come on... hold steady damnit.”_ Several of the cracks faded but did little to reassure you as the bones persisted in battering your bubble of protection wherever you went. Another pair of dragon skulls appear again, one facing you at an angle and the other facing away from you. You didn't dash away in time, the shield taking an indirect hit by the laser, weakening under the onslaught of pure magical power before you tear yourself away to escape. A large ugly cracked formed in punishment for your slow reflexes, the fractures deepening and to your horror... bits of the shield were breaking away. 

Papyrus laughed, tone dark and cold. _**“You can't dodge forever.”**_ He grinned sadistically, _**“In fact you can't protect her and yourself forever.”**_

_“Fucking watch me!”_

_**“Oh I will! And I'm going to enjoy watching you writhe as you howl in agony!”** _

You felt a dark chill go through you as you looked around wildly for the next two Gaster Blasters, ignoring the bones that beat a rhythm of destruction on your shield. Where are they!? Where were they going to strike from this time? More of your shield crumbled away as you searched. It was by Undyne's gasp of fear that you realized your mistake as the bones stop their attack and disappear. You gaze fell to the ground beneath you.

Large, flat image of a dragon's skull leered up at you, grinning evilly.

You gasped at seeing it charge was full and ready to release it. You only had seconds to strengthen the shield as best as possible before focusing most of your gelatin barrier to surround Undyne. She shook her head, staring at you in horror. “NO! DON'T!”

It fired the laser directly at you. 

The shield shuddered and quaked for a few seconds bearing the full force of the attack before the strength of the blast proved to be too much. The green shield shattered like glass, the fragments of it disintegrating in the energy. Your barrier protected the fish monster from the heat of the beam as you directed your soul to cover her and took the brunt of the attack. 

You howled a wordless shriek as the blaster's energy enveloped you, consuming all that you saw. You barely heard Undyne's own scream of despair over yours. 

Agony. 

It was all you felt. 

All you knew right then as you felt it jolt and course through your soul, making you convulse as it burned and tore at you. You didn't even notice your heart was flickering from the tremendous blow you were taking. In your soul's eye, you barely registered your health had dropped dramatically by fifty with the help of your higher defense. You didn't care, you just wanted the pain to stop. You didn't know how long it lasted. Minutes. Days. It felt like forever to you and it was driving you insane with it.

At long last, the laser had run its course, the energy spent and dissipating as the dragon's skull faded away. Papyrus grinned as you drop from the air, landing heavily on the earth and laid there broken and battered. Soul-wise at least.

“Fucking hell! Come on kid, wake up!” Undyne crawled back to you, looking you over in horror before checking your health. It was dipping dangerously past the halfway mark. The former captain winced. You had taken a direct hit by that beam; maybe the pain had hit harder than the actual attack and you were in shock of it. She poked at your soul, trying to get you to respond but you merely looked through her, trembling from pain.

 _ **“I thought as much.”**_ Papyrus purred as he walked toward you two, a smug grin forming on his face as Undyne growled and stood over you, bristling at his approach with another spear in her hands. _**“You couldn't protect yourself and the Captain for long. I told you.”**_

“Get the **hell** away from them you sick f-”

 _“And I... I told_ **you** _... to-to watch m-me, asshat.”_

If you had the energy, you'd laugh at his expression as Papyrus turned his gaze slowly to stare at you. The disbelief was funny to see. You heart flickered and glowed dimly, in show of how weakened you were as you dragged yourself to your feet. Even Undyne stared at you in concern, like she wasn't sure if you were even sane anymore to stand back up. _**“How the living hell can you still stand after that!?”**_

 _“Be-because... f-fuck you... that's why.”_ you puff, forcing yourself to grin at him. Hell, you weren't sure how you were still standing. Were you even conscious now? God, you had to be tired to even start wondering if you were conscious or not, considering you were a soul right now for god sakes. _“Plus, I still got... ninety HP left, Paps.”_

 _ **“You little...”**_ The knight began growling before he started chuckling to himself. He scanned you p and down and you bristle at the contempt look he sent you. _**“You're bluffing, human. Look at you. You can barely stand, so I doubt you even have ninety HP.”**_ He shrugged as he lifted his sword to point at you, ignoring Undyne that sidled a little to protect you. _**“Either way, you both will die but I will admit that I was rather entertained by you two this entire time. I'll end this quickly so I can return to my mission of collecting the human souls. I can practically feel the souls out there.”**_

“Yeah, you're really going to enjoy feeling **this** sole, _pal._ ”

Papyrus jolted at the sudden addition of a new voice. It took him a second to realize who it was before a blur flew right at him and slammed the sole of their shoe against the side of the doom knight's helmet and sent him flying off to the side. You and Undyne were startled at not just the sudden appearance of a familiar face but the reddish-purple flame that surrounded the leg before it kicked the knight aside. 

You both turned and blinked as Sans kept to the shadows of the tree near you. You knew it was him, as if the bright blue of his left eye and his voice were any indications. You also knew he felt... different and looked different too but it was hard to see because he stayed by the tree's shadow. 

Sans lifted a hand at you two in greeting, his grin still on his face. “Sorry we're late. Traffic was a real _birch_ , did we miss anything?”

You both groaned at the terrible pun. “Sans, no... please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm sure quite a lot of you have questions about... Reader's ability. Like every other soul in the game that each has a different... 'ability' or something about them, Reader has it as well. Reader is a defensive fighter, only attacking when they're attacked if they're not busy warding attacks. Their health and defense is based on the amount of determination they're feeling at the moment, so it varies. I tried to give a decent amount since this is Reader's first time in utilizing this ability. 
> 
> Hell they didn't know they had one. So the more they train at it, the better the results can be if they go into another battle. (For now this AU I have in my head is just a one time deal for this story only. Unless I get inspired to make another story for this AU then cool.) If you still got questions, comment or on tumblr. :)
> 
> The next chapter will take a longer to write since I need to plan this battle carefully since I'm going to end up writing for five characters at once in one location. Writing for three in a battle was tough enough. xD As well as figure out Sans new temporary look, kinda need to find some refs build it up like I did with Papyrus' dark knight look. 
> 
> Anyway, SPOILERS (if any for future fics)...
> 
> Reader is the reincarnation of the Green Soul of the game. That's it. xD

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, THAT happened... still nervous about it actually but, gotta go with the flow.
> 
> Oh! And for Papyrus' new look... he's like a mix between these two pictures.
> 
> http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20121219213649/yugioh/images/a/a2/Rudger_Skeleton_Knight.jpg  
> http://img13.deviantart.net/4f18/i/2014/280/8/9/skeleton_warrior_by_mlappas-d81x2nt.jpg
> 
> I don't claim credit for the images, they're so far the best ones I could find that could bring what I described to life. ^^; Sorry.


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